17th Goodguys Charlotte Southeastern Nationals

Folks in the South sure love their cars and auto racing. An extension of that admiration is on display every fall at the Goodguys Southeastern Nationals, held at Charlotte Motor Speedway (formerly Lowe's Motor Speedway) in North Carolina. Held on the infield of the 1.5-mile banked oval (where NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 is held each Memorial Day), hot rodders with vehicles made before 1973 gather to check out each other's cars, see what's new from the various manufacturers, cruise through a well-stocked swap meet, and maybe even get to drive around the famed track in either a race-prepped NASCAR trainer or their own car (albeit at much lower speeds!).

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The event usually boasts drag races (held Friday night at the on-site quarter-mile dragstrip) but none were scheduled this year, and although some folks were disappointed, they were able to get their frustrations out at the Street Challenge AutoCross both Friday and Saturday. The Challenge is popular with both rodders and spectators alike, and cars of all descriptions, from Deuce roadsters to '60s Camaros, all compete against the clock, maneuvering their rides at speed around a closed-coned course on pavement. Knock over some cones and points are deducted from your overall time, and the competition (especially between racers in the manufacturer's class) gets pretty fierce.

3/47If you're going to have a race car you'll need a hauler, right? Noel Clemmer of Lake Lynn, PA, arrived in style with his matching racer and rollback truck. The coupe is a '30 Ford, equipped with a 239-inch Flathead Engineering Flattie, while the '47 Ford COE uses a 7.3L diesel to get it to and from.

But bar none the show 'n' shine is by far the most popular facet of the weekend, and that's because hundreds and hundreds of cars from all over the Eastern United States, from Florida to Maryland, attend the three-day gathering.

Finalists for the Goodguys Annual Kustom-, Muscle Machine-, Muscle Car-, and Truck-of-the-Year contests are picked here, too, as are another group of 10 winners of STREET RODDER's annual Top 100 program.

And though the quality of cars at this show often produces qualified contenders for those high-end awards, the "regular" cars (thousands of them) that spread out across the vast grass and parking areas are worthy of second and even third looks.

4/47Certain cars have that certain appeal and every time you turned the corner and saw Harry Hannis' '27 Ford roadster pickup you had to stop and look. A 327 is found underhood while the blocked rear and ribbed front tires give off an old-time feel.

There were some crazy contraptions (one car in the shape of a 6-foot-wide pumpkin comes to mind), but there was also a healthy dose of traditional hot rods and mild customs. No one type of car stood out this year, though we did notice a fair amount of '50s-era Mercs as well as late-'50s trucks, which means there was a nice mix of cars from across the hot rodding spectrum-just the type of thing you'd hope for in a long weekend hosted by the Goodguys! For more photos from this event, go to www.streetrodderweb.com.

Painless Performance Products
Presents
Street Rodder Top 100
For the Top 100 program, STREET RODDER attends 10 particular car shows each year and picks 10 vehicles at each to make up the Top 100. Visit www.streetrodderweb.com for more information.

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Tech Tip
Maxi Fuse
Maxi fuses are the latest in overall circuit protection. They replace the old fusible link, which can be restrictive in current flow, and the Maxi fuse is also easier to replace if necessary. Like most other fuses, they come in many amperage ratings.

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Best Ford In A Ford
David Tuttle, based in Clover, NC, had a major requirement when he turned to Butch Cook Vintage Cars (BCVC) in Fort Mill, North Carolina, to build his '47 Ford business coupe: it had to a have a Ford motor in it. BCVC obliged, and installed a supercharged 5.4L '09 SVT Mustang engine in the old car, which also received a new Stage III chassis, complements of the Roadster Shop. Among the highlights of the interior are the BCVC-covered six-way adjustable buckets (the rear seat is a third-row bench out of an SUV) and the woodgraining applied to the dash by Crazy Horse Custom Painting.